Bad news for Bunnings
One year ago, Aussie hardware giant Bunnings Warehouse opened its first store (complete with sausage sizzle) in the UK – St. Albans, Hertfordshire to be exact.
However, while it may be one of our favourite, most trusted brands, it seems the motherland hasn’t quite taken to the big green warehouse.
Wesfarmers, which owns Bunnings, Coles, Kmart and Target, has just released its first-half financial results and the news isn’t good.
The retail conglomerate has reported a net profit dip of a staggering 86.6 per cent, down to $212 million for the six months to December 31 compared to $1.57 billion the same time a year earlier.
The loss comes after a $1 billion write down to the value of its Bunnings UK and Ireland venture and a $300 million write down to the value of its Target chain. Even without factoring in the write-downs, Wesfarmers’ net profit after tax was still down 3.3 per cent.